Exploring history in London & abroad with my camera

Walking at La Motte

We were looking for a walk in the Franschhoek Valley and the Tourist Office in Franschhoek, gave us information about a trail at The La Motte Vineyard.

La Motte charges R50/person to walk the trail and you receive a map and bottle of water. The hike is 5kms, takes two hours, and needs reasonable fitness as there is quite a bit of scrambling and even a chain to cling on to as the trail crosses rocks.

The Fan Aloe, Aloe Plicatilis

The Franschhoek Valley is incredibly beautiful.

The trail rises into the hills and involved quite a bit of scrambling, and even some clinging.

We were lucky to find proteas still in flower.

As the path descends we walked through protea beds and vineyards, and past an old cemetery back to La Motte.

The trail passes the an old graveyardwhich some say was the original cemetery for the Huguenot settlers in Franschhoek; others say it was a general cemetery for the town.It has been sadly neglected. I don’t know the date of the photographs below but the contrast with today is stark.

Back at La Motte visitors were settling down to lunch or wine tastings – we were too scruffy to mingle and headed into Franschhoek for a beer.